


Neither Dark Nor Rain

by melkechi



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 07:04:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17442203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melkechi/pseuds/melkechi
Summary: After some unsettling events happen in the Metaverse, Ren gets worried about Makoto and is forced to push himself a great distance to make sure she’s alright.Written for ShuMako Week day 3: Distance





	Neither Dark Nor Rain

**Author's Note:**

> So.. Pixiered (Angela) and I decided to do one of these reverse collab's for ShuMako week. I wrote this story and she did some amazing art, please check that out on her twitter. 
> 
> This still doesn't feel right..

Surprised. That was how Ren felt as he looked out the windows of Leblanc. So focused was he on perfecting his newly learned brew that he hadn't noticed the storm raging just outside the cafe doors.

“Looks like we’re in for a loud night,” came the voice of Morgana, who was watching the heavy sheets of rain pounding against the front door of Leblanc.

“It got bad so fast, I didn’t even notice,” Ren replied. He joined the cat in staring at the storm through the windows. 

By this point it was late. Sojiro had already closed up shop for the night and returned to his home, followed by Futaba. This left Ren and Morgana by themselves, which allowed the boy to focus on brewing some coffee for future trips to the Metaverse. 

After spending a while watching as the storm continued to crash against the front windows of the café, Ren stepped back to continue his brew. Suddenly, his phone started ringing. Pushing back his apron, he reached into his pocket to pull out said phone. The name Niijima Makoto followed by a blue heart emoji lit up the screen. 

A wave of worry crashed over Ren the moment he read his girlfriend’s name. It was rare that Makoto would call him this late. She used the later hours to study or catch up on the work she missed while the team explored the Metaverse. Something had to be wrong.

“Who would be calling you this late Joker?” came Morgana’s voice once again. The cat was now on the counter, trying to get a better view of his phone. 

Ignoring Morgana’s question, Ren quickly hit the answer button and brought the phone to his ear.

“Mako-“ He could barely finish her name before she cut him off.

“R-Ren..!” Her voice came out stuttering and like nothing he’d ever heard from her before, meaning that the feeling he had was correct.

“The storm.. the power is out.. S-Sis isn’t here..” More stuttering mixed with obvious fear. Ren recalled the time the group went into Sojiro’s house for the first time. 

“Hey, hey.. I’m here. It’s okay Makoto,” the boy replied in his most comforting and loving voice. For her to be acting this way, she had to be extremely afraid. “Listen, I’ll stay on the phone with you until the storm passes and the power is back on.” 

Not liking the sound of the soft whimpers coming from his girlfriend, he wanted to help calm her down in anyway possible. Also, he didn’t mind the idea of staying on the phone with her regardless.

“Makoto..?” he spoke into the phone again after not getting a reply for a few seconds.

“M-My phone is dying and.. and there’s no way to charge it.” Makoto’s voice sounded frantic at the realization. 

Before he could even reply he heard three small beeps followed by silence, which meant the call had ended. His girlfriend’s phone had died at the worst possible time. 

The frantic and scared tone of her voice played on repeat in his mind. Ren’s chest tightened with even more worry once he realized she was stranded in THE DARK. That was what made her act the way she did back in Sojiro’s house, but there was also something else. 

Just earlier that day, the Thieves had been making their way through a certain part of Sae’s Palace... The House of Darkness. Everything had been going fine until half way through. When forced to face off with yet another group of shadows, Joker noticed a member of their group had gone missing. Queen was nowhere to be found. 

After finishing the fight as fast as possible, Joker retraced their steps. It took a combination of his third eye and Oracle’s scanning abilities to finally find their second in command. She had ended up in one of the many completely dark, dead ends of the maze. 

Even as Queen, she was absolutely terrified, unable to form words with the scared whimpers that escaped her lips. Joker kept her close until they were safely out of the House of Darkness. Once safe, he was able to talk to her about the separation. Luckily he was the only one that saw how terrified she was of the dark. This had been the cause of her panicking and trailing off from the rest of the group.

“Joker is she okay?” Morgana’s voice broke the train of flashbacks that were racing through Ren’s mind.

Instead of replying, a serious and determined glare met Morgana’s eyes. 

“Stay here and watch the café,” was the last thing he said to the cat as he quickly made his way towards the door. The boy grabbed an umbrella and stepped out, swiftly locking the door as he set out into the raging storm. Morgana was left confused and thinking he was insane.

~~

By the time Ren fought his way through the downpour to Yongen-jaya Station, his clothes were completely drenched. Loud swishing sounds came with each step in his now soaked shoes. He hoped to get on the train and out of the storm as soon as possible, to make his way to the apartment where his girlfriend lived. 

But then his next obstacle hit him like a ton of bricks. 

He realized that it was already late enough that he missed the last train by a few minutes. Although Leblanc wasn’t very far from the station, the storm made it seem like the longest journey一a journey that was just completely stopped in its tracks.

Ren wanted to yell in anger. His body shook from how cold he was. He could feel the water dripping down from his chin. Not a single part of him was dry anymore. Fighting the hurricane-like winds mixed with the constant downpour of rain felt like being drowned, making him want to give up and just head back to Leblanc. 

The thought of Makoto’s warmth and embrace quickly changed his mind. He was going to see her tonight one way or another. Calculating a route and the distance it would take on foot, Ren had made up his mind. Just over five kilometers. Doable. He would get to her and make sure she was okay. She didn’t have to be in the dark, alone.

As he trudged through the storm, all the boy could do is look down at his feet. “Just keep taking steps, you’re getting closer,” was on repeat in his mind. Ren couldn’t remember the last time he was this cold. Well... besides the times he got hit with a Bufu in the Metaverse.

It seemed like the wind was getting even more powerful. It made quick work of destroying his umbrella the instant he tried opening it. Ren figured it was better he didn’t use it anyway, since he could hear the occasional crack of thunder in the distance. With how his luck was turning out that night, he was sure he’d get struck by lightning if he tried using it. 

The rain was harsh... it felt sharp against his face, like little needles constantly smacking him from every angle and causing his eyes to burn. Running through the storm and the wind seemed to amplify the effect. Hence, Ren tried to keep his eyes towards his feet while he made his journey, able to glance up at street signs only fleetingly. 

This whole thing felt like a nightmare. Ren was the only one out in the storm, everyone else knew better than to be out in weather like this. Even he knew it was a stupid idea... but he had to see his Makoto. He would do anything for her. The thought of seeing her was what kept fueling his drive to keep moving一no matter how bad his skin ached from the sharp rain or his chest burned from the pace of his run. He was determined to see his Queen. 

~~

Makoto sat on her bed clutching Buchimaru-kun with white knuckles. It seemed like the power had gone out hours ago, leaving her to sit in complete darkness. The raging storm outside caused the apartment to make some eerie noises that definitely weren’t helping her situation. 

Although the student council president wasn’t the biggest fan of the dark, especially when she was young, it usually didn’t affect her this badly. Makoto didn’t realize that everything happening with her sister was digging up emotional trauma. She wished that Sis was there with her. Sae always knew how to calm her in these situations when she was younger.

After the Phantom Thieves finished her Palace, would Sis even be able to be in her life still? By saving Sae.. would it mean losing her completely? These exact questions had been racing through Makoto’s head since the Thieves agreed to take on the casino. These exact questions had caused her to lose her focus and get separated from her team earlier that day. 

She could feel tears starting to well up in the corner of her eyes, the burning threat of crying nagging in her chest. Makoto gritted her teeth, trying to fight off the emotions and the fear of being alone, surrounded by nothing by darkness. 

Suddenly, she heard a loud knocking against the apartment door. The noise startled her out of the racing thoughts, but also scared her even more. Who could it be? Did Sis actually plan on coming home..? Was she really still in Sae’s Palace and shadows were coming to get her? 

The knock came again, this time it was even louder. She could make out the sound of someone calling her name, even through the roar of the storm. This pushed her to move from her bed to make her way through the dark apartment. 

“W-Who? Who’s there?!” Makoto attempted to call out as she approached the door. It came out moreas frightened mumbles. 

The tears from before were threatening to spill over now. She felt so weak and afraid.. had she really even changed at all? 

Her hand found the door handle after hearing the voice call out her name again. Makoto opened it a little faster than she would have liked, the strong winds contributing to the motion. They nearly knocking her back once they could get in. 

Somehow, standing there before her was Ren. She was able to make him out even in the dim moonlight. His amazing gray eyes were hidden behind wet hair that was plastered to his face. He was soaked and trembling, wearing nothing but a thin layer of dripping wet clothes and his apron from Leblanc. Makoto’s fear was replaced with worry. 

“Ren?!” Her question broke the silence between the two of them. 

“Are you okay? You sounded upset on the phone.” Ren’s voice was shaky and breathless. Makoto could see his chest rise and fall like he was gasping for air.

Once Makoto got over the shock of who was standing before her, everything changed. No more fear or anxiety crushing her. She felt lighter and warm as a big smile spread across her face, causing the tears at the corners of her eyes to spill down her cheeks.

She grabbed her boyfriend’s wrist, pulling him inside of the apartment and closing the door. Even in the darkness her hands found his face, pushing away the wet hair that was stuck to it.

“I’m okay now… Ren why are you here?” She wanted nothing more but to just hug him, but she held back the urge due to his dripping wet attire.

“I needed to make sure you were okay. You’re crying.. what’s wrong?” His breathless tone was starting to calm down.

Makoto shook her head, dodging the question. She grabbed both of his hands in hers, leading him towards the bathroom.

“We can talk about that later. You need to get out of these wet clothes.” Her voice was insistent. Ren did not push the matter any further.

Once inside of the bathroom, Makoto pulled off Ren’s clothes, starting with the apron. 

“It’s dark and inconvenient, but you should take a hot shower. You’re freezing.” 

Once she realized what she was asking and doing, her cheeks flushed red. 

Hearing Ren’s soft chuckle made her heart start to race in her chest. She expected some witty comment regarding what she just asked of her boyfriend, considering she was practically undressing him. Instead she felt his freezing cold lips press against her forehead.

“That sounds nice.. I’ve got this. I’ll be out in a little,” Ren reassured her, mumbling against her forehead. 

This made her blush even more. Even after fighting a hurricane-like storm, her boyfriend was still so amazingly charming. 

“I’ll dry your clothes for now. You’re staying here the rest of the night, correct? I don’t want you going out in the storm again,” Makoto asked as she gathered up his soaking wet clothes. The blush on her cheeks grew even hotter as she realized he had no clothes on, even though she couldn’t see a thing in the darkness.

Storm or not she wasn’t letting him go anywhere. She finally felt comfortable since the power outage first started. It was all thanks to her boyfriend and she wanted him there with her.

~~

“I can’t believe you went so far through this storm...” Makoto mumbled into her boyfriend's shirt.

The couple was cuddled up in her bed under extra blankets. Makoto was doing everything she could to keep him warm. This meant she was practically laying on top of him, nuzzling her face into his chest, as the two of them held each other. 

Luckily she had ‘accidentally’ taken one of his shirts home with her just a few days before. He now wore it, along with a pair of her sweat pants that were obviously too small for him. She could tell he was just happy to have dry clothes after his shower.

“I was worried about you. It was just my crappy luck that I missed the last train.” He sounded exhausted.

“Please don’t try doing anything like this ever again. You could have gotten seriously injured or end up sick,” she said in a serious, but also pleading way.

Although she was extremely grateful for her boyfriend showing up, especially since the storm was still raging outside and they continued to be without power, Makoto couldn’t help but worry about how his choice could have ended very poorly. 

“Makoto, I love you. I would go any distance for you.” His voice was sincere and loving. Makoto couldn’t argue. She knew she felt the same.

She couldn’t help but bury her face in his chest, trying to hide her blush. Ren knew how to fluster her like no other. But before she knew it, Makoto found herself looking up at him. Her lips found his in the darkness, resulting in a passionate and thankful kiss.


End file.
